{"id":19600,"date":"2014-05-27T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T00:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=19600"},"modified":"2014-08-17T10:42:56","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T10:42:56","slug":"feature-black-anvil-05-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-black-anvil-05-14\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK ANVIL – Next Level Black (May 2014) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACK ANVIL – Next Level Black<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nMay 2014<\/span><\/p>\n

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The process for authoring and cutting May 2014\u2019s Hail Death<\/em><\/a> \u2013 the third full-length from New York City, New York-based metal outfit Black Anvil \u2013 was \u201cpretty long, but a pretty natural one.\u201d Inaugural effort Time Insults The Mind<\/em> had arrived in October 2008 through Monumentum Records, September 2010\u2019s Triumvirate<\/em> marking the band\u2019s Relapse debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started writing a long time ago, and sort of put everything on hold,\u201d remembers Paul Delaney, vocalist and bassist for Black Anvil. \u201cI\u2019d say about the halfway mark, we demoed a good handful of songs and sat on them for a while. I remember when it came to the point. I remember the day where we were like \u2018Alright, we\u2019ve gotta get cracking here,\u2019 and it just all started developing. Taking our time was something we\u2019ve never done with making a record \u2013 it lit a fire under us. We weren\u2019t rushing by any means, but there was always a schedule or something. This time, we just sort of took our time. We really focused on making a better record and a more creative piece of art, I think. For us, we created something that we\u2019ve never done before; I think we stepped outside our box of songwriting, and progressed. We\u2019re still refining ourselves a little bit, so I\u2019m completely happy with the end result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frontman prefers that listeners interpret Hail Death<\/em>\u2019s lyrical meanderings themselves. \u201cWe really don\u2019t like to talk about the lyrics, because they were personal,\u201d he explains. \u201cObviously you can print out the lyrics sheet, so it\u2019s easy to just decide and interpret for yourself, but they follow the left hand path you could say (laughs). They\u2019re pretty passionate, heartfelt lyrics. There is a concept I guess to an extent, a lot of exploration of ourselves, and death and life \u2013 death being the ultimate reality. It\u2019s something that will knock you down to size when it happens, as tough as you can be and as much as you think you can be. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather just passed away two weeks ago; he lived a great life. I was holding his hand, and I really felt his last breath. It was a pretty intense, sudden thing. You\u2019re not always there when this shit happens, but I felt the fucking life leave his body. It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s easy to talk the talk and have views on things, but when it happens, you find yourself in fucking tears sometimes. It challenges you to think about things, and face those things. We just incorporate all this into our music; there\u2019s a big spirituality within the band, and in the lyrics. We urge that people probably sit down and maybe read the lyrics, if you\u2019re gonna buy a copy of the album. I don\u2019t feel like many people do that, but I do (laughs).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t really happen much any more, because it\u2019s so convenient to just… And I can be guilty of that at times too, but you get a digital copy, download it, and you just listen to it and enjoy it. I do really find pleasure and sort of relaxation in just sitting down with the booklet, though; opening it up, thumbing through it, reading the lyrics, and doing what I did when I was a kid. I just sat down and read the fucking lyric sheet, just looking at it over and over again throughout the course of the record. It\u2019s still fun and exciting for me to do that \u2013 it\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hail Death<\/em> was cut during the summer of 2013 with producer J. Robbins. \u201cIt was great; it was really great working with him,\u201d Paul enthuses. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with him in the past. Initially, we really had our heart set on making this record with the bass player of Marduk, Devo. It was a big plan, and it was a big part of us just leaving the country and going somewhere else, and just being isolated in a fucking neighbourhood we don\u2019t know, and just being somewhere else and doing something different. Shit in our personal lives got in the way of that, and so we had to record close to home. <\/p>\n

\u201cJ. was the first choice in our head, but he was a different choice. He\u2019s obviously a bit outside the box, because he\u2019s never done anything as heavy as this, or anything like this at all. We recorded it very organically, and I feel we really needed that to get our point across. These songs have a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll vibe, and so I wanted the production aspect to fit. It was exactly what I envisioned in the beginning, so it really worked out great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, the lyricist is content with the group\u2019s decision to appoint J. Robbins as producer. \u201cHe definitely had as many ideas as we did,\u201d he shares. \u201cI would give him complete producer credit as much as any of us in the band; without him, we wouldn\u2019t have gotten to see our vision complete. He became an integral part of the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of his input had to do with sounds, like with miking the amps, miking everything, getting our sounds, and getting our tones. Not arguing with us, but maybe making some suggestions. We can be pretty ignorant and pretty stubborn with what we want. We have a certain sound. We\u2019re like tyrants; we want what we want and everyone else can fuck off, but at times when you have a pro sort of say to you \u2018I do this all the time. Maybe you should listen to me,\u2019 sometimes it\u2019s like \u2018Let\u2019s see if he\u2019s right. He does this all the time, so maybe we can turn this knob a little this way.\u2019 It\u2019s just good to have someone with knowledge of what\u2019s going on, to put you in your place a little bit, and maybe open your minds to doing something slightly different.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In addition to production, J. Robbins has figured among the ranks of various hardcore ensembles over the years. \u201cIt\u2019s always intimidating recording with him,\u201d Paul admits. \u201cHe\u2019s a great musician himself. His bands are really interesting and talented and technical, and of course I\u2019m like a fucking gorilla with the instrument. I walk in the room and pound on the fucking thing, but I\u2019m always really focused on making the bass sound insane (laughs). I think it\u2019s fun for him to work on that with me. Yeah, there are no complaints. We set my rig up like I do live, and just miked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hail Death<\/em> incorporates \u201cclean vocals into a lot of the songs,\u201d the singer cites. \u201cThat\u2019s surprisingly the part that comes together really quick, the lyrics, but they\u2019re the most important part of the band I feel. I do feel that after years of playing live though, my voice has become a little… It changes as you get older and you play more, but you get used to it. I feel my voice has gotten more powerful just from using it more, but I think we managed to keep it creative. There\u2019s only so much you can do when you\u2019re yelling, and there\u2019s only so much range you can hit before it\u2019s just the same fucking routine of screaming. I\u2019m trying to find ways of making it work a little more, and giving it some flow. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some songs that have like a hip-hop\u2019y sort of flow to it. It\u2019s weird to use that word, but it\u2019s not. You just try to really make it different every time, to make it sort of interesting and not bland. I think the biggest for us is incorporating some clean vocals though, and it worked. We kept it minimal; we kept it short and to the point, in that department. Lyrically, it\u2019s obviously a powerhouse for us. It\u2019s beyond the last two records by light years \u2013 it\u2019s very important to us lyrically, so yeah.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the first one, three of us were in a band prior to Black Anvil. We\u2019ve done a shit ton of bands, but we were all in a band together for a long time, and we had all left that band at certain times. When we ended it, only two of us were involved; Raeph (Glicken) the drummer wasn\u2019t a part of the end of it, which was a little disheartening \u2013 without being disrespectful to who was in the band at the time. Gary (Bennett, guitars) and I had started playing together in different projects, and it just sort of led to this. I had this idea in my head, and I pushed for it. Me and Gary got together one day, and I was sitting behind the drum set. I was like \u2018We\u2019ve gotta fucking call Raeph, man. I can\u2019t play drums.\u2019 I had the vision, and I made these two guys… <\/p>\n

\u201cI just sort of made it happen, and the first record was a product of that. It was just us really excited to be back in a room together and be creative, but this time it was different in a way, because there were a different set of priorities with the meaning of what we were doing. There was a very natural understanding, also. With the first record, we hadn\u2019t even played one show before we recorded the record. We then toured a bunch and played a lot, and so when it came time to write the second record, we were sort of really hungry and wanted to just bang out a quick record. We had all the ideas; we were in the mode, the second record mode where you just wanna do it and you\u2019re excited. Like I said, we had time constraints before. This time, there was no rush. We were able to just step back, and process it all. And… I don\u2019t know. Having the extra time just made us experiment a little more, but that was actually the quickest process surprisingly, was putting the words to everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a third record for a band is really important; it\u2019s sort of like the make or break. It\u2019s either like \u2018Okay, these guys are doing something,\u2019 or \u2018This is the fucking same shit. I\u2019ve heard it twice before. What else is coming out these days?\u2019 I feel that the first two records were important for what they were. In a sense, they got us here. I probably don\u2019t want to play the old music any more, but I\u2019m very happy with those two albums. They were all steps that we needed to take to get here today. That\u2019s how I view all three of them, in fact \u2013 walking up a flight of stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hail Death<\/em>\u2019s cover artwork was designed by Valnoir of Metastazis. \u201cI wish I could tell you more about it,\u201d Paul chuckles. \u201cValnoir from Paris, he\u2019s sort of like the fifth member of the band \u2013 he\u2019s done all of our records. We contacted him years ago, and on top of working with each other, we\u2019ve actually developed a great relationship. He\u2019s been to New York a few times, and we\u2019ve seen him overseas. He\u2019s found a way to express our albums visually. He usually asks me questions, so a situation like this is hard, because this is the first and only time we\u2019ve given him complete control. We trust him, because we know that the end result is pretty great. We just gave him the lyrics and the music. There\u2019s normally questions from him to us, but we really let him do his thing, and so he just created a universe for us \u2013 it\u2019s a lot of things. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really into the urban element of where we\u2019re from, which I respect. He\u2019s not just trying to do what you feel would fit, like trees or whatever the fuck. We just sort of let him go, and so there\u2019s a lot going on on the front cover. I still look at it and I\u2019m like \u2018Is this guy out of his fucking mind?\u2019 It\u2019s very dense and heavy, but it definitely depicts death. I get from it; when I look at it, I take things from it. My interpretation of his artwork is maybe not the best, because I look at it, and it\u2019s just fucking striking. I don\u2019t know why he created that, but it\u2019s art. That popped into his head, and it was a genius idea. It\u2019s a little controversial, but fuck it. He\u2019s the genius behind that; he\u2019s a great artist in everything that he does, so it\u2019s good to have that guy on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Deluxe edition versions of Hail Death<\/em> include a cover interpretation of \u2018Under The Rose\u2019, originally by Kiss and included on November 1981\u2019s Music From \u201cThe Elder\u201d<\/em>. \u201cIt should only be on the deluxe edition and iTunes edition \u2013 special editions and stuff \u2013 but it seems to be on the version that everyone has,\u201d the composer notes. \u201cIt\u2019s not on the regular CD, because the record ends with \u2018Next Level Black\u2019. Lyrically the record ends there, but we always do a cover song of sorts. It\u2019s always something that I like to hold meaning. We did \u2018Dethroned Emperor\u2019 by Celtic Frost for example (on Time Insults The Mind<\/em>), and that was a song that we used to soundcheck with in our old band \u2013 just because one guy had a guitar, and he would start playing that \u2013 so years later we thought \u2018Let\u2019s do that\u2019. \u2018Under The Rose\u2019, the album\u2019s a record that I love, and I\u2019ve always loved it. I got it when I was very young. It was hard to get, because it was only available through import. It stuck with me. For the most part I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a brilliant record, but it\u2019s really underrated \u2013 it\u2019s a pretty solid record. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got very good songs, but I\u2019ll say that there are some songs that I don\u2019t think are that great as well. On CDs, there are usually some songs that you like and some songs that you skip. That one is more special to me because I was like eight or nine when I got that; it wasn\u2019t available in the US, so I wound up getting it on Japanese import. I wanted it so bad, but most record stores just didn\u2019t have it because it flopped. It probably just wasn\u2019t being carried, so I think that was more the song when I was younger where I had my heart set on getting every Kiss record. It was funny, because it was my obsession that made me really dive into that record. Luckily, years later it still stands the test of time, because it\u2019s still meaningful and I still appreciate it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing it in the car one day. There are records that I like that other guys in the band don\u2019t like, like Metallica stuff. I will beg to differ with everything that they dislike (laughs), just because fuck \u2019em. I try to change minds. I had The Elder<\/em> on, and when \u2018Under The Rose\u2019 was playing, our drummer Raeph just said in the back of the van \u2018We should cover this.\u2019 The second he said that, it was a done deal. It made sense. I think we pulled it off in a way that it fits the big picture \u2013 lyrically, I interpret that in a special way. It was just a good way to pay homage to a band, because that was sort of one of the reasons why I\u2019m into music. Kiss was really important to me growing up, but at the same time I was lucky to be able to find a song that we could even pull off, because it\u2019s easy to just cover any old shit and do something (laughs). I don\u2019t know how many of their songs are about partying and girls, and so it would obviously have not meant something to us in the band. We\u2019re lucky we found the perfect song to do, and then we got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hail Death<\/em> was released on May 23rd, 2014 in Germany, Benelux, and Finland, and subsequently in the rest of the world on the 27th, all via Relapse Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in May 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACK ANVIL – Next Level Black Anthony Morgan May 2014 Black Anvil (l-r): Sos, Raeph Glicken, Paul Delaney and Gary Bennett The process for authoring and cutting May 2014\u2019s Hail Death \u2013 the third full-length from New York City, New York-based metal outfit Black Anvil \u2013 was \u201cpretty long, but a pretty natural one.\u201d Inaugural […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-black-anvil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19600"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21687,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19600\/revisions\/21687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}